Natural gas often contains about 60–100 mole per cent methane, the balance being primarily heavier alkanes. Alkanes of increasing carbon number are normally present in decreasing amounts. Carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and other gases may be present.
Conversion of natural gas into hydrocarbon liquids has been a technological goal for many years. The goal has become even more important in recent years as more natural gas has been found in remote locations, where gas pipelines may not be economically justified. A significant portion of the world reserves of natural gas occurs in such remote regions. While liquefied natural gas (LNG) and methanol projects have long attracted attention by making possible conversion of natural gas to a liquid, in recent years the advent of large scale projects based upon Fisher-Tropsch (F-T) technology have attracted more attention. A review of proposed and existing F-T projects along with a discussion of economics of the projects has recently been published (Oil and Gas J., Sep. 21 and Sep. 28, 1998). In this technology, natural gas is first converted to “syngas,” which is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, and the syngas is converted to liquid paraffinic and olefinic hydrocarbons of varying chain lengths. The F-T technology was developed for using coal as a feed stock, and only two plants now operate using natural gas as feedstock—in South Africa and in Malaysia. A study showed that for a plant producing 45,000 bbls/day (BPD) of liquids in a U.S. location in 1993, investment costs would have been about $38,000 per BPD production (Oil and Gas J., Sep. 28, 1998, p. 99). Improved designs are said to lower investment cost to the range of $30,000 per BPD for a 20,000 BPD facility. Such a plant would use about 180 MMSCFD of natural gas, 10 million GPD of raw water and 150 BPD of normal butane, and would produce excess steam, which could be used to produce 10 megawatts of electricity.
The conversion of natural gas to unsaturated hydrocarbons and hydrogen by subjecting the hydrocarbons in natural gas to high temperatures produced by electromagnetic radiation or electrical discharges has been extensively studied. U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,773 discloses a conversion process that subjects methane plus hydrocarbons to microwave radiation so as to produce an electric discharge in an electromagnetic field. U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,993 discloses a method for cracking a hydrocarbon material in the presence of a microwave discharge plasma and a carrier gas, such as oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, and, generally, a catalyst. U.S. Pat. No. 3,389,189 is an example of patents relating to production of acetylene by an electric arc.
Methane pyrolysis to acetylene and hydrogen by rapid heating in a reaction zone and subsequent rapid quenching has also been extensively investigated. Subatmospheric pressures and specific ranges of velocities of hydrocarbon gases through the reaction zone are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,156,733. Heat is supplied by burning of hydrocarbons.
Although the prior art has disclosed a range of methods for forming acetylene or ethylene from natural gas, an energy-efficient process for converting natural gas to a liquid that can be transported efficiently from remote areas to market areas has not been available. What is needed is a process that does not require large capital and operating expenditures such as required by the prior art processes. Also, the process should be energy efficient.